Judge blows whistle on Ebusco over canceled 45 buses (update)

Dutch electric bus manufacturer Ebusco’s lawsuit in summary proceedings over the payment for 45 buses turns out to be a damp squib. The Dutch judge ruled that public transport company Qbuzz has the right to cancel the order, even when the buses are mostly ready for delivery.

The court also allowed Qbuzz to keep the money it had seized from Ebusco as it feared the bus maker wouldn’t be able to pay the €1,2 million indemnity if the delivery dates weren’t met. Bad news on the day Ebusco is to address its shareholders to raise another 36 million euros in new capital.

The troubled company from the Dutch town of Deurne has been facing delivery problems for some time, and the loss of the order would put considerable pressure on its financial resources.

Production is halted

The cancellation concerns orders for 59 buses, 45 of which are 12-meter buses. Those 45 buses have already been produced: 30 are available for delivery, 10 are on their way, and five are about to be shipped to the Netherlands—the company also has an external facility in China.

To maintain its finances in the short term, Ebusco has halted production “for the most part” pending the lawsuit’s outcome and the completion of issuing new shares to shareholders.

According to Ebusco, Qbuzz, a public transport company in the Netherlands that operates services in South Holland, Utrecht, Drenthe, and Groningen, has also seized some of the company’s bank accounts. “We are working to see if we can get this lifted as soon as possible,” a spokesperson said, but it’s clear now that won’t work.

New capital is needed

Ebusco wanted to resolve the dispute quickly before it allowed existing shareholders to buy new shares. Last month, Ebusco announced plans to raise 36 million euros in new capital from shareholders. On October 24th, the company holds an extraordinary shareholder meeting.

The listed company is suffering from production problems. As a result, losses have increased so much that analysts fear for Ebusco’s survival. The new capital is needed to change course, ensuring better results and more reliable delivery times.

Even more orders canceled

Due to these delivery problems, Sweden’s Connect Bus previously canceled an order for 47 buses. Ebusco is now in talks with several parties to sell those already-produced buses. Transport company Keolis Sweden also canceled an order for 50 buses.

At the end of August, two top managers of Ebusco resigned immediately: founder and top executive Peter Bijvelds and fellow top executive Michiel Peters. They were succeeded by the German Christian Schreyer, ex-Deutsche Bahn.